Unwearable? Only for now

Even the most unlikely men's wear trends trickle down from the catwalks of Milan and Paris it just takes time, says fashion editor Janice Breen Burns.

Tight pants, tailored skirts, sissy-pink trousers and filmy shirts? On blokes? You've got to be kidding! By all accounts, any Aussie worth his spit and cusses would scoff at the kind of get-ups trotted out in Milan and Paris over the past fortnight. Retro Hollywood pimp ensembles? Oh yeah; Tom Ford can keep those. Blokes in Yohji Yamamoto frocks by spring 2004? Not bloody likely. Even Muicca Prada, who helped rescue a generation of thirtysomethings from tailored mediocrity in the past decade, appears to have a new dream: that inside every red-blooded male is a nerdy-looking git with Brylcreemed hair, limbs like cooked spaghetti, and a penchant for beige, cardigans, and wearing neckties at weekends, just screaming to get out. Not bloody likely, that, either.

In fact, Aussie blokes are in sync with the rest of Western world's masculine humanity on that score. Their sartorial choices are made so carefully that the forward propulsion of most trends is painfully slow, and really stupid ideas tend to be ignored altogether. As they should be. At least, at first.

But, more odd-ball catwalk trends do leak down to the racks at Myer and Kmart than most blokes probably realise. It's just that, by the time, say, very tiny resort shorts are racked at Target in a choice of daffodil, sky and primrose two or three years from now, most blokes will have forgotten how ridiculous they looked on the catwalks.

It might have taken a few seasons (more likely six or 10), but that high-breaking, slim-fit, three-button single-breasted suit that looked so "out there" a few years ago, is now the average norm for Average Norm. And, what about sarongs, sissy-floral shirts, homey-oversize clothes and even hair fashions such as Brazilian goatees, side-burns and samurai pony-tails? A noticeable number of baby boomer blokes have happily indulged one or more of those once horrifying fashion trends recently. And, why? Because they got used to the ideas. That's how fashion works.

And, the mechanics of fashion for men works pretty much the same here, despite Aussie blokes having a reputation for being conservative. In fact, Melbourne men's wear designer Dom Bagnato says, far from it. "They are lot more fashionable now that they were when I started, 20 years ago, that's for sure." He believes the "filtering" of international trends through celebrities and sports personalities such as soccer star David Beckham has boosted fashion as a priority in young men's lives. "Men still don't pick up on the more colourful, more theatrical looks (on international catwalks) as quick as women I think that's because (men's wear) isn't given a fraction of the media coverage women's wear gets. But there are young guys now 20s, 30s really into fashion. They get excited and are fantastically well dressed."");document.write("

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Target's senior buyer for young men, Gary Hastie, agrees Australian men definitely don't lag. After his a recent regular jaunt to Montreal, London and Los Angeles, he said: "In a lot of ways, we're ahead. In areas like Piping Hot (surfwear carried by Target) for instance, I know American buyers come over to look at what we're doing in surfwear."

Hastie laughs that the broad-market Target is "a long way down the food chain as far as fashion goes", meaning some trends have to keep "trickling" for several seasons. "But, fashion is all about evolution now, anyway. When I come back from a trip and people ask 'what's big?', 'what's hot?', it can be hard to say; it's often like, a bit of a variation, more than something new."

At the moment, Target customers are roughly split in two a "city dressing" group that Hastie says would shop for labels such as Politix and Calibre and favours a slimmer block, slightly flared trousers and double-cuffed shirts. The other segment has more casual tastes, would customarily hit Mooks, or Chapel Street to shop, and prefers distressed and destroyed denim, Asian graphic T-shirt designs and easy-fit items that enhance a muscular, well-built look, and an "urban survival" combat look that's similar to a theme in the US store, Fred Segal.

Even within the definition of classic and conservative men's wear, Australian men are as responsive as any in the world to the typically subtle changes in fashion direction, according to Ben Apted, merchandise manager of Henry Buck's. "We have a distinct look that's strong and not typically Italian, not American, not English, but it's sophisticated and definitely Australian."

The Henry Buck's team visits the massive Palazzo Pitti luxury men's wear fair in Florence to monitor the tiny changes that rumble through their classic, high-quality end of the market. Coming up next year, Apted says, are higher-breaking, two-button suits in lighter weight linens and softer fabrics, red shades and bold stripes in ties, classic striped shirts and a stronger presence of checks in shirting.

Ironically, though, the Henry Buck's customer will probably respond to these minuscule changes long before the average Aussie male will warm to the trends trotted out in Paris and Milan last week.